Payments and Refunds

To view your refund status, just log in to your student account on goPFW. There, you can review the recent activity. Once your balance changes from a credit (displayed as a negative number) to a zero, your refund has been processed.

Disbursement week is the week before classes begin. This is when your refund will be processed. Here is some other information to keep in mind: 

• Set up direct deposit if this is how you want to receive your refund. 
• If you choose direct deposit, your refund will be deposited into your bank account two to three business days after the refund is generated (excluding disbursement of Federal Parent PLUS Loans and refunds of payments made by credit card). 
• If you do not choose direct deposit, a paper check will be mailed to the address on your student account. 
• All checks will be mailed from a third party. You cannot pick up your check at the Office of the Bursar.

Important Notice
There are circumstances under which Purdue Fort Wayne may be required to reduce the amount of financial aid that was disbursed to your account, such as the following:

• Dropping classes 
• Not attending classes 
• Not performing well in classes 
• Corrections received from the Department of Education

When this occurs, the following will happen: 

• The Office of Financial Aid reduces the award. 
• Funds are pulled from your student account and sent back to your loan or grant. 
• If a refund of excess financial aid has already occurred, you will be notified of the need to pay these funds back to the university. 
• This notification will be made electronically in the form of an eBill and may also be made in the form of a letter from the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of the Bursar, or both.

There is a refund period at the beginning of every semester. If you drop one or more classes during this period, your fees will be recalculated based on your liable credit hours. If your recalculated total liable credit hours are in the banded rate, no refund is calculated. 

Day one is the first day of term and is part of term. All calendar days are counted, including weekends. If you withdraw from a class, the following refund schedule will apply.

For specific dates and more information, see the 2024-25 Master Detail Calendar.

Note: A 100 percent refund will be allowed through the day of the first class meeting, even if it occurs after the designated period. Any course meeting for more than eight weeks will use the refund schedule approved for fall and spring semesters. All calendar days are counted, including weekends. If you are receiving federal Title IV financial aid (Stafford, Pell, Perkins, SEOG), and you make a full withdrawal or do not attend classes, a calculation will be made to determine the amount of unearned aid that you will be required to repay. Specific information about this calculation may be obtained at the Office of Financial Aid or at pfw.edu/financial. Refunds are not transferable from one student to another. To qualify for a refund, your class withdrawal must be processed during the periods specified above. The refund schedule for off-campus credit classes offered through the Division of Continuing Studies may differ from the one above and appears in registration materials published by the Division of Continuing Studies. 

If you are withdrawing, please read Purdue University Fort Wayne’s policy for return of financial aid funds for students who withdraw from the university. 

You may complete the Petition for an Exception to the Refund Policy if there are significant or unusual circumstances outside your control that cause your involuntary withdrawal from any or all classes. The circumstances that caused a change in your enrollment could not have been influenced, planned for, or prevented by you, the student. As such, a petition for an exception to the refund policy must meet at least one of the following criteria to be considered for approval: recent medical condition, university error, or immediate family emergency, including death or severe illness. In addition, a prior approval has not been granted. A student is allowed one appeal approval at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Contact the Refund Exception Committee at [email protected].

No more waiting on the mail or standing in line—get the fastest, most secure refund by direct deposit. Receive eligible refunds directly to your bank account. 

Follow these steps to set up your account for direct deposit: 

1. Log in to goPFW. 
2. Navigate to the Bursar Card. 
3. Click on "Click Here to See Your Bill"
4. Click on Refunds. 
5. Click on Set Up Account. 
6. Enter your bank account information. (This will allow our office to deposit funds, not remove funds; your information is confidential and cannot be accessed by Purdue Fort Wayne staff, and it will stay on file from term to term, so you need to sign up only once.)

Purdue University does not function as a financial institution. Payments made to Purdue should align with the invoiced amount from the university or the anticipated total for tuition and on-campus housing. Payments related to off-campus housing or personal living expenses should be directed to your personal bank account rather than the university. It is important to note that any payments exceeding the billed amount will be either held as a deposit for an upcoming semester or returned to the sender. In the case of wire transfers, the transfer will be reversed to refund the funds to the originating account.